Editing Cacophony Society

{{Short description|American counterculture organization}}
{{Infobox organization
| name                = Cacophony Society
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| predecessor         = [[Suicide Club (secret society)|Suicide Club]]
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| formation           = 1986
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| purpose             = [[Counterculture|Counterculture activism]], [[culture jamming]]
| headquarters        = [[San Francisco, California]], United States
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The '''Cacophony Society''' is a [[United States|US-based]] organization that consists of individuals "united in the pursuit of experiences beyond the pale of mainstream society."<ref name="member">{{cite web|title=You may already be a member!|url=http://www.cacophony.org/sample-page/|publisher=The Cacophony Society|accessdate=April 4, 2015}}</ref> In 1986, the organization was created by the surviving members of the defunct [[Suicide Club (secret society)|Suicide Club]] of [[San Francisco]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Dunham|first=Elisabeth|title=Public pranksters enjoy tormenting stuffed shirts|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=U9kgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=J2sFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4686,6220229&dq=cacophony-society&hl=en|accessdate=August 22, 2010|newspaper=McCook Daily Gazette|date=December 23, 1993}}</ref>

Cacophony events, which may be sponsored by any member, often involve wearing costumes, performing pranks in public places, and [[urban exploring]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2018-01-26 |title=Carrie Galbraith enters The Zone for the last time. |url=https://johnwlaw.com/2018/01/25/carrie-galbraith-enters-the-zone-for-the-last-time-photos-and-links-to-follow/ |access-date=2024-07-16 |website=John Law |language=en-US}}</ref>  

== Chapters ==

=== San Francisco Chapter ===
Formed in 1986, some members became organizers of the annual [[Burning Man]] event.<ref name="laweekly">{{cite news|title=Cacophony Society Prankster Group Gets New Exhibit and Documentary|url=http://www.laweekly.com/arts/cacophony-society-prankster-group-gets-new-exhibit-and-documentary-2173842|newspaper=[[LA Weekly]]|date=February 2, 2012|accessdate=April 4, 2015}}</ref> The move came after Cacophony member Michael Mikel attended the event's previous iteration, the unnamed Memorial Day beach party to raise and burn the Man on [[Baker Beach]], in 1988 and publicized the 1989 event in the Cacophony Society newsletter.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-06-04 |title=The Cacophony Society |url=https://www.trippingly.net/burning-man-musings/the-cacophony-society |access-date=2024-05-08 |website=Trippingly |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Beale |first=Scott |date=2007-01-18 |title=Bad Day At Black Rock, Cacophony Society Zone Trip #4 Which Took Burning Man to the Desert in 1990 |url=https://laughingsquid.com/bad-day-at-black-rock-cacophony-society-zone-trip-4/ |access-date=2024-07-16 |website=Laughing Squid |language=en-US}}</ref> 

In 1990, Carrie Galbraith and Kevin Evans conceived of Zone Trip #4<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> and organized it with [[John Law (American artist)|John Law]] and Michael Mikel. They publicized the event in the Society newsletter as "A Bad Day at Black Rock". [[Larry Harvey]] and Jerry James, who had previously run the Baker Beach party, co-founded the Burning Man festival when they were invited to bring their [[effigy]] along for the new Labor Day weekend art festival after they had been blocked from burning it on the beach by law enforcement.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-08-23 |title=Enter the Zone — Episode 1: How a Band of Pranksters Inadvertently Created Burning Man |url=https://journal.burningman.org/2021/08/black-rock-city/building-brc/zone-episode-1-how-pranksters-created-burning-man/ |access-date=2024-05-08 |website=Burning Man Journal |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> 

The Society was also involved in such events as the Atomic Café, the [[Chinese New Year]] Treasure Hunt, the picnic on the [[Golden Gate Bridge]], driving an earthquake-damaged car on the closed [[Embarcadero Freeway]] to commemorate the [[1989 Loma Prieta earthquake]],<ref>{{cite news
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24774107/herb_caen_cacophony_society_embarcadero
| newspaper = The Honolulu Advertiser
| title = Herb Caen
| last = Caen
| first = Herb
| date = 1990-11-03
| access-date = 2018-10-23
| page = 26
| via = [[Newspapers.com]]}} {{free access}}</ref> the [[Brides of March]], Urban Iditarod, and the Sewer Walk.<ref name=":2" /> 

After a lull in activity in the [[San Francisco]] chapter in the late 1990s and the cessation of the chapter's monthly newsletter, ''Rough Draft'', a group of subscribers to the defunct society's email discussion list became active under the Cacophony Society aegis. This resurgence followed a mock Pigeon Roast organized by a fictitious group called "Bay Area Rotisserie Friends" in San Francisco's [[Union Square, San Francisco|Union Square]] in 2000, proposed by Drunken Consumptive Panda.

In 2013, Kevin Evans, Carrie Galbraith and John Law co-authored ''Tales of the San Francisco Cacophony Society'',<ref name=":2">{{cite web|title=Tales of the San Francisco Cacophony Society|url=http://www.lastgasp.com/blog/publishing/tales-of-the-san-francisco-cacophony-society/|work=Last Gasp|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130508215924/http://www.lastgasp.com/blog/publishing/tales-of-the-san-francisco-cacophony-society/|archivedate=2013-05-08}}</ref> a book published by [[Last Gasp (publisher)|Last Gasp]].

In 2013, a digitized collection of the [[San Francisco]] chapter's ''Rough Draft'' newsletters was uploaded to the [[Internet Archive]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Internet Archive Now Home to San Francisco Cacophony Society 'Rough Draft' Newsletters (1986-2001)|url=http://laughingsquid.com/internet-archive-now-home-to-san-francisco-cacophony-society-rough-draft-suicide-club-newsletters-1986-2001/|work=Laughing Squid|date=May 16, 2013}}</ref>

=== Los Angeles Chapter ===
Originating in 1991,<ref>{{cite news |last=Ehrman |first=Mark |date=1991-12-22 |title=CLIQUES |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24632591/los_angeles_cacophony_society/ |access-date=2018-10-13 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |page=14 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} {{free access}}</ref> the [[Los Angeles]] chapter listed events in their monthly newsletter ''Tales from the Zone''. After mailing out physical monthly newsletters for several years, they switched to an online newsletter format. The events produced by the Los Angeles branch often centered on public pranking with several historical events, including "Cement Cuddles" where they filled a dozen [[Teddy bear|teddy bears]] with cement and put them on toy store shelves complete with bar-coded labels.<ref name="MacGregor2002-02">{{cite web
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24632646/cacophony_pranksters_are_at_a/"
| last = MacGregor
| first = Hilary E.
| title = A Punch Line and an Exit; With its leader's departure, the prank-pulling L.A. Cacophony Society is at a crossroads
| date = 2002-02-07
| page = E.1, E.3
| access-date = 2018-10-13
| newspaper = [[Los Angeles Times]]
| via = [[Newspapers.com]]}} {{free access}}</ref>

The [[Los Angeles]] group splintered in late 2000 when longtime leader, Al "Reverend Al" Ridenour, pranked the society itself and declared a "bold new direction" for the branch by allegedly joining an [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christian]] community out of guilt over the deaths of two young members who reportedly died in a drunken post-event car accident. However, one of the men eventually turned out to be completely fictitious and the other, Peter "Mr. Outer Space" Geiberger, was discovered to be alive. In Spring 2001, Ridenour stepped down as leader of the chapter. 
  
In 2005, Reverend Al resurfaced as Dr. A.P. Ridenour, leader of a safety consciousness organization, [[The Art of Bleeding]], along with several members of the Los Angeles chapter.

In 2008, the Los Angeles chapter was revived by San Francisco members Heathervescent and Rev. Borfo with Michael Mikel's blessing. They have since continued to sponsor events.

=== Seattle Chapter ===
In December 1993, the Seattle Chapter held a protest event called "Uncan the Cranberries" at a shopping mall, where Cacophony members asked the public to "save the free-range cranberry".  Another Cacophony member asked the "adult children of parents" to avoid "dysfunction and substance abuse" by staying home and avoiding family gatherings.<ref>{{cite news
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24636363/seattle_cacophony_society
| title = Public Pranksters Delight in Tormenting Stuffed Shirts
| last = Dunham
| first = Elizabeth
| date = 1993-12-23
| newspaper = Ukiah Daily Journal
| page = 12
| agency = [[Associated Press]]
| access-date = 2018-10-18
| via = [[Newspapers.com]]}} {{free access}}</ref>

=== Portland Chapter ===
By the mid-1990s, the Cacophony Society had expanded to Portland, Oregon.<ref name="Palahniuk2015-12">{{cite web
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=CJwfjbx4EukC
| access-date = 2018-10-12
| title = Chuck Palahniuk Gives a Lesson on Prank-ology
| last = Gagliano
| first = Rico 
| date = 2015-05-29
| quote = Chuck Palahniuk: A lot of "Fight Club," especially the second part of the book, was based on the Cacophony Society, which was a group of people based in San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, and Los Angeles, who organized enormous pranks and spectacles — to entertain themselves and shock the world around them.
}}</ref>  In 1996, Portland Cacophony organized the first Santa Rampage outside of San Francisco.<ref name="santarchy">[http://santarchy.com/big-reds-in-town-again/  "Big Red's In Town Again"]</ref> The arrival of the members dressed like Santa, who flew in by plane, was met by Portland police in riot gear, following a tip-off from the San Francisco Police Department.<ref name="santarchy"/> However, the activities resulted in only two arrests, which involved a gift wrapped in a Playboy centerfold being given to a recipient without verifying that they were over 18.<ref name="santarchy"/>

For several years, Portland Cacophony was responsible for the Disgruntled Postal Workers, a group of armed individuals in postal uniforms who occasionally delivered newspapers and other forms of "mail" at the annual Burning Man festival. Eventually, the Burning Man organizers banned their guns. The Black Rock City Post Office (BRCPO), which sends US postal mail from the Burning Man festival with a unique BRCPO postmark arranged with the US Postmaster, is still managed by PDX Cacophony associates.{{Citation needed|date=September 2010}}

One of the most widely known Cacophony members is novelist [[Chuck Palahniuk]], who has mentioned his experiences with the Society in his writings, particularly in the book ''Fugitives and Refugees: A Walk in Portland, Oregon''. Palahniuk used the Society as the inspiration for the fictional organization Project Mayhem in his novel [[Fight Club (novel)|''Fight Club'']]. Palahniuk himself was pranked by a group of members disguised as waiters at one of his book readings in San Francisco.<ref>[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/09/12/DD300263.DTL Garchik, Leah. "Getting the vapors over literature." ''San Francisco Chronicle'', September 12, 2003.]</ref>

=== Other Chapters ===
Cacophony chapters are or have been active in about two dozen American cities and at least a half dozen other countries{{Citation needed|reason=Citations here do not support the claim that there are chapters in places other than Antarctica|date=December 2024}}. Between 2003 and 2006, and in 2008, "Sant' Arctica" was held at [[McMurdo Station]], [[Antarctica]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Santarctica 2006 |url=http://santarchy.com/tag/antarctica/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181013053836/http://santarchy.com/tag/antarctica/ |archive-date=2018-10-13 |access-date=2018-10-12 |website=santarchy.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| url = https://sandwichgirl.livejournal.com/13017.html
| title = santarctica 2006 
| access-date = 2018-10-12
| author = sandwichgirl
| website = [[LiveJournal]]
}}</ref>

==Other events, affiliations==
Many activities have been inspired by the Society, such as [[Pee-wee Herman]] Day (commemorating Actor [[Paul Reubens]]' arrest in a pornographic theater){{Citation needed|date=February 2025}}. 

[[Flash mob]] activities have been influenced by the Society, as well as groups like [[Improv Everywhere]]. The Society also has links to the [[Church of the SubGenius]] and the annual [[Saint Stupid's Day Parade]] held on April 1st in [[San Francisco]]. [[Urban exploration|Urban explorers]] also have taken some inspiration from early Society events such as the Sewer Walks.<ref>{{cite magazine 
| url = https://www.modernluxury.com/san-francisco/story/the-unkillable-arts-underground
| title = The Unkillable Arts Underground
| first = Gary 
| last = Kamiya 
| magazine = [[San Francisco Magazine]]
| date = February 2016
| access-date = 2018-10-25}}</ref>
{{Portal|San Francisco Bay Area}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://cacophony.org/ The Cacophony Society's home website]
* [http://portland.cacophony.org/ PDX Cacophony Stumptown Lodge]
* [http://laughingsquid.com/bad-day-at-black-rock-cacophony-society-zone-trip-4/ Zone Trip #4]

{{Culture jamming}}

[[Category:Cacophony Society| ]]
[[Category:Organizations based in San Francisco]]
[[Category:American artist groups and collectives]]
[[Category:Counterculture festivals activists]]
[[Category:1986 establishments in California]]
[[Category:Burning Man]]